FAWM: 4 down, & 11 to go?

Well, I got off to a good start with the February Album Writing Month... my girlfriend called me from Denmark... which is 9 hours ahead... so it was 8 am for her and 11 pm for me... and we talked for over an hour. So, after we got off the phone, I sat down at the piano and played this 5 note motif I had improvised in someone's lesson that day.... and before I knew it, I was well into creating my first piece. I wrote a complete arrangement for the music, and recorded a short 1.5 minute sample of the work, in the early hours of Feb 1st.

The next morning, I had a cancellation, so I went down to the local coffee shop with some notes I had on 3 or 4 story elements or characters that Tolkien created. I just thought a little... and before I knew it, I had a lyric. In my lunch break I wrote the music - but I had a lot of trouble making a work tape I was happy with, so I ended up just doing an a capella version with vocal harmonies as a sample.

On Friday, I sat at the piano and improvised a little, and then wrote a couple of interweaving music motifs. I managed to actually produce a longer piece. It's posted at:
http://www.mixposure.com/song.php?songid=35447

Yesterday and today I struggled with the 4th piece. I wrote these lyrics yesterday and they are within the theme of my 'album' - inspired by Tolkien - but the song isn't anything I'd put on my album. But I kept telling myself not to block the inspiration, to write whatever comes, and trust it is leading somewhere. Don't think about the end product, allow the flow, accept the flow, no editing. Then I had some computer problems and ended up spending 4 hours - and reworking it twice - before this ol' computer would actually render a work tape for me.

I haven't got my new computer yet -- I found out it would be better to have a second SATA internal hard drive, instead of an external hard drive, for storing the orchestra samples, as the transfer rate through the USB hub might be too slow. That means, if you are using several different instruments, the main drive has to go 'get' the samples while you play your music. The USB hub may not transfer that data fast enough, so you get pops and clicks in your playback -- well I have that on my old computer, and the whole point was to get away from that! I'm glad I found this out, because the internal hard drive addition costs $100 less than the external.

I'm trying to organize my desks and stuff so I'll have a place to put it :) I actually went through some stuff today and filled a garbage bag and two recycle bags. Feels good.

I'm tired now. I decided not to try to write anything else today. Hopefully inspiration will flow again soon :)

Oh, yeah.... this week I also have a short writing project to complete; work on a large graphic design project; keep up with my students and do some paperwork.

"When you know who you truly are, there is an abiding alive sense of peace. You could call it joy because that's what joy is: vibrantly alive peace. It is the joy of knowing yourself as the very life essence before life takes on form. That is the joy of Being -- of being who you truly are." ~ Eckhart Tolle, 'Stillness Speaks'